Religion can be fun, especially if you create them yourself. Who haven’t dreamed of a perfect religion, one where you are the God? You create, you make your characters believe in it, and you let your imagination flow. But, how can you avoid plot holes in your religion? Keep reading.

The Gods
First things first, who are the Gods in your religion? One? Many? What do they look like, and what do they stand for? You could go the traditional route and have one God for Love, Hate, Fertilization, Bravery, Healing, and so on. But, something to remember is; don’t copy paste names of existing Gods, this can cause readers to compare them, and even get insulted. Come up with your own names, use a translator and/or name generator.

Hierarchy
You need a hierarchy in your Gods world. There has to be conflict between Gods, otherwise it doesn’t seem realistic. Ask yourself, if you were to write a whole book, having your Gods as the main characters in your story, how would it pan out? What is the conflict? How do they live, and what can they do? How powerful are they? What are the limits to their powers? This helps to create a realistic religion for your characters to believe in.

Followers
Now, what race in your world believes in these Gods? Why do they believe in them, and how do they practice their religion? It could be anything from sacrifices to simple prayers in a church. Write down for yourself the origin of the religion, how did people start believing in these God’s? Think Jesus and how Christianity began.

Lastly, have fun and create more than one!
This is not a ‘must’ but a world with more than one religion is always more interesting and more realistic. If your story only plays out in one single country, then obviously everyone there COULD believe in the same Gods, but it would seem more realistic if the other religions within the world is at least mentioned. Follow the earlier steps when you create a second religion, and off you go!